


Broken Flowers

by fireredlily



Category: MindCrack RPF
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, Begging, Broken Bones, Bruises, Chains, Disobeying Orders, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Possessive Behavior, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:47:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2089341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireredlily/pseuds/fireredlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a story based on sunsetmonday's Medieval Nebtho AU on Tumblr. Nebris is a king/lord and takes Etho in as his servant, in return for helping Etho's dying mother. He only has two rules: Etho is not allowed to leave the castle grounds, nor may he fraternize with the other servants. Etho grows to miss his friends from the village, and sneaks out one night to go to the Spring Fair, and when he comes back, Nebris is less than pleased with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Flowers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunsetmondays](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmondays/gifts).



> It is recommended that you read sunsetmonday's Nebtho Medieval AU Ramblings Part 1, 2 and 3 first or you will likely be VERY confused as to what is going on here. [Part 1](http://sunsetmondays.tumblr.com/post/72084006340/nebtho-medieval-au-ramblings-part-1) | [Part 2](http://sunsetmondays.tumblr.com/post/72086537088/nebtho-medieval-au-ramblings-part-2) | [Part 3](http://sunsetmondays.tumblr.com/post/72088544349/nebtho-medieval-au-ramblings-part-3)

"Normally, I don't like to use such extreme measures. But with you, I think I need to make an exception. If you can't keep yourself within the castle grounds, then I'm not even going to let you leave this room without my direct supervision."

Etho flinched at the sinister tone in Nebris' voice, and licked his lips as his throat suddenly went dry. His mouth opened, as his brain struggled to form words, only to close his mouth again and avert his eyes when the purple-eyed man glared down at him. Nebris pursed his lips together, satisfied that his slave wasn't going to fight him on this. With one last long and possessive look at the young man chained to his throne, Nebris finally turned away, opening the doors.

"Goodnight, Etho." As the dark-haired man shut the doors loudly behind him, Etho shuddered. The cold floor was not very welcoming, and he huddled against the side of the throne, drawing his knees to his chest as he tried not to think about sleeping on the chilled tile floor. Instead, his thoughts wandered back to earlier that day, trying to figure out just when everything had fallen apart.

Nebris had been very firm when he'd told Etho he was not permitted to go to the Spring Fair with his friends. There had been an odd glint in his eye then, that Etho still couldn't quite place. Nebris had been calm when he'd begun his request, but seemed to tense as soon as he mentioned his friends. But, that couldn't be. Surely Nebris had expected that Etho would have friends, more companions than just him. He couldn't possibly have been angry at him for wanting to go out for once on his own. And so, Etho had gone, slipping away as soon as Nebris was out for the evening.

It had been such a simple, straight-forward plan. He would go out, spend some time with his friends, enjoy the sights and sounds of the fair, and be back before Nebris returned. Instead, Nebris had apparently come home early, and was looking for him. When Etho finally came back, expecting to be alone, Nebris was waiting. And he was angry. So very angry. The sudden change was frightening to Etho-- this angry, short-tempered Nebris was completely at odds with the gentle, relaxed man he had come to know. He wasn't sure what to expect, and that scared him more than anything else.

Etho had heard rumors of Nebris' possessive streak, though he'd never seen it himself. The dark-haired man had always seemed so at ease in Etho's presence, so gentle. Despite his warnings when Etho had initially accepted his offer, Nebris had never once pushed Etho to do anything he was uncomfortable with, preferring to give him light work inside the castle, and letting Etho do as he pleased within the walls when he was through with the day's chores.

Most of the time, he sought out Nebris during those free hours, content to enjoy his company while they talked or played chess. Other times, he'd walk the castle gardens, delighting in the many varieties of flowers that grew there, tended by the castle's skilled gardeners. Etho longed for the relaxing presence of those flowers now, as the fragrant aromas had done wonders for easing his mind in the past. As he shifted his legs into a more comfortable position, the rattling of the chain tethered to his ankle brought him back to the present. He'd not be seeing those gardens again any time soon, if Nebris had anything to say about it, and certainly not alone.

Etho shivered, remembering the fury he had seen on the dark-haired man's face. His leg still throbbed from how roughly Nebris had grabbed it when he'd dragged Etho across the floor, and the manacle was cold against his ankle, reminding him of his current punishment. Wishing, not for the first time, that he'd just stayed put and done as he was told, Etho whimpered, finally drifting to sleep as his exhausted mind was overcome by the events of the evening.

Elsewhere, Nebris paced in his bedchambers, furious. He'd asked one thing of Etho, to stay on the castle grounds, and instead, he decided to go off gallivanting with friends. He had been out there, smiling and laughing with someone else. Something dark twisted in his gut as he thought about the young man he'd left chained in his throne room. Maybe he'd been a bit harsh, but Etho needed to learn that he was his and Nebris didn't share. If he was cooperative, maybe he'd let him free of the manacle in a few days, and Etho could go for a walk in the gardens. With Nebris accompanying him, of course.

He settled into his bed to sleep, twisting and turning as he went over Etho's actions in his head again. He'd gone missing for hours, making Nebris terribly worried, and then returned with a playful taunt, as if nothing was wrong. As though he hadn't disobeyed Nebris' direct orders to stay put. Nebris had been kind, almost too kind, in allowing the younger man to reside with him while his mother recovered under Nebris' sponsorship. All he'd asked in return was for the younger man's companionship, and his obedience. And while he wanted more, he'd never pushed Etho into a relationship, choosing to let the silver-haired man approach him on his own outside of his normal duties.

What had happened that Etho would so suddenly rebel against his orders? Was it because his mother was recovering? Did he think that once his mother was well, he wouldn't need Nebris anymore? The thought of Etho leaving in the middle of the night and never coming back chilled Nebris to the core. He'd grown fond of the young man, and the thought of him betraying him after all he'd done to help him was a painful one.

Nebris did not think he could bear it if Etho left him alone again, and his lips curled into a smirk as a dark thought entered his mind. He didn't have to give him the chance. Etho had promised to become his indentured servant after all, his slave. For all intents and purposes, Etho was his. Nebris had warned him of the start about his intentions, and Etho had agreed. A few days chained to his throne should be enough to remind him of that.

Nebris had avoided his throne room the next day entirely, choosing instead to handle other matters, such as meetings with the council that he'd been putting off. He assigned a servant to bring Etho his meals during the day, and after that, allowed the young man to slip from his mind entirely as he busied himself with work. When Etho finally crossed his mind again, Nebris smiled. The young man would no doubt be out of his mind with worry, wondering when Nebris would come back and release him. All of his thoughts would be focused on Nebris, just as he wanted, and he'd likely be falling over himself to apologize when he returned. As his eyes darkened in amusement at the thought, he resolved himself to let Etho wait it out until tomorrow.

The next morning, Nebris opened the doors of the throne room calmly, intent on giving Etho a bit of a reprieve now that he'd calmed down. However, at the sight of Etho happily cooing over some flowers, Nebris felt his rage reawaken. Had Etho convinced one of the other servants to take him outside? Or merely to get some flowers for him? Either way, he had them now, which meant Etho had disobeyed his orders yet again. He was meant to be reflecting on his actions, not amusing himself by staring at flowers! Angrily stomping forward, Nebris watched as Etho gasped, scooping up the flowers quickly and cradling them in his hands as he approached.

"Drop them, Etho." Etho shook his head, eyes filled with terror as Nebris' face turned an angry purple. Nebris reached forward, gripping his arm tightly enough to bruise as he forced his fingers to uncurl, dropping the flowers to the ground. Nebris backhanded Etho with enough force to send him crashing to the floor, his forehead hitting the ground hard. Nebris stomped down his boots with what was probably excessive force, determined to crush the flowers into dust. A hand reached out between stomps as Etho tried to rescue as many flowers as he could, and he gave a short yelp before stifling it as Nebris dropped his boot heavily onto his hand, crushing several of his fingers in his rage. Etho withdrew his hand and cradled it to his chest, shaking as Nebris turned on his heel and walked out, his rage satisfied.

When he was certain Nebris wasn't going to return right away, Etho turned his attention back to the flowers. They'd been trampled, leaving the petals crinkled and tearing bits of the stems apart, but he would have to make do. If Nebris had been this upset about him having the flowers in the first place, it wouldn't be wise to ask the servant who brought his meals to sneak any more in. Etho didn't want to think of what might happen if Nebris decided to turn his rage towards the servant who'd gathered the flowers for him.

He moved his hands carefully, wincing as he saw that several of his fingers appeared to be swelling up. A dark imprint was embedded on the back of his right hand, matching the bottom of Nebris' boot, and several of his fingers had been dislocated. He wiped away a bead of sweat on his forehead, starting as he saw blood. His vision had been poor ever since Nebris had backhanded him, but Etho had chalked it up to being disoriented from hitting his head. Now, he knew, it was more likely that the blood had gotten into one of his eyes, making it much harder to see out of it.

Pushing the thoughts of his injuries aside, Etho turned his attention back to the flowers. Biting his lip to hold back the cries of pain as he worked his broken fingers to weave them together, Etho barely noticed as his teeth drew blood. With a single-minded determination, he set to entwining the stems of the crushed flowers together. Ignoring the pain in his fingers as they slipped multiple times, Etho settled in for a long few hours, devoted to crafting a crown out of the flowers.

After all, what else did he have to do? And so he continued to weave the stems together, over and under, until the last knot was tied. Gazing at the flower crown with tired eyes, Etho carefully slid it under the throne so as to keep it from being trampled. The sun was beginning to rise outside and Etho turned away from it, curling up against the side of the hard throne as he drifted off into a fitful sleep, exhausted.

Etho jerked awake as Nebris opened the throne room doors, walking back into the room. He kept his head down as Nebris approached, unwilling to invoke his wrath again, even accidentally. Mustering up his courage, he reached behind him, picking up the completed flower crown as he held it out to Nebris, trembling as he waited to be acknowledged. The king frowned, not missing how Etho's shaking seemed to increase when he got closer. It was evident he had scared the silver-haired boy quite badly and he smothered the feelings of guilt as they started to form.

Nebris longed to see those beautiful eyes looking at him, but Etho seemed intent on looking anywhere but at Nebris as he kept his silence. Not a sound escaped from those dried lips as his slave stared down at the ground, no doubt afraid of provoking his anger once again. Nebris felt a pang of regret as the man he had grown to call a friend shrunk in on himself, as though trying to disappear. If the throne were tall enough, Nebris suspected that Etho would have hidden under the chair in an attempt to escape his notice entirely.

Nebris peered down at Etho, carefully looking at the item cradled in his hands. A flower crown. It was lopsided and messy, and the flowers were crushed, but it was unmistakably a flower crown as Etho held it out to him. "What's this, then?" Nebris' voice was gruff, still a bit peeved that Etho had kept the flowers even after he'd crushed them. His annoyance must have shown in his voice because the silver-haired boy flinched, swallowing roughly before he answered the question.

"It's f-for you… I was m-making it as an a-apology." Etho's voice was shaking as badly as the rest of him, and Nebris had to force himself not to flinch as a tear trickled down the side of his face. It was bruised, the purple-eyed man noted with a frown, and he could faintly see the hand-shaped mark his backhand had left on the fair skin. When Nebris didn't say anything, Etho found himself regretting the decision to continue his work on the flower crown. Fighting back the urge to whimper, he spoke again, rushing to fill the silence.

"I'm sorry, milord. I won't--" his voice broke, but he soldiered on, "I won't disobey you again. I promise. Is…. Is my mother-- No, don't answer that, I…" The young man chained to his throne was rambling, and Nebris stiffened at the undisguised fear in Etho's voice as he asked after his mother, and then took back the question almost as swiftly as he voiced it, not wanting to know the answer. Did the young man really think Nebris would be so cruel as to revoke his mother's medical care over an argument?

Well. He'd messed things up badly between them if sweet, playful Etho thought him capable of such cruelty. Not for the first time, Nebris considered that he'd maybe gone too far and overreacted in his anger.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that Etho was still waiting for some kind of acknowledgement. The arms holding out the flower crown had begun to ache, but Etho didn't dare let them drop, lest Nebris think he wasn't serious about his gesture. When Nebris didn't answer after several long minutes, Etho gulped, still not daring to look up. "Y-you don't like it. I-It isn't good enough, right? I'm sorry, I don't know what else to do to apologize." Etho's voice cracked, betraying his panic, and tears streamed down his face in full force as the terror set in. "W-what do you want me to do? I'll do anything, please, just… just say that you'll forgive me."

The silver-haired man was desperate now, trying to think of something, anything, that could fix the problem he'd caused. That desperation gave way to bargaining before long. After a brief pause, Etho spoke again, quietly, and Nebris could hear the resignation in his voice as he put forth what appeared to be his final offer. "I…I'm your type, aren't I? I could… If that's what you want, then… I could warm your bed for you. Would that be enough for you to forgive me? If I was good enough?"

Etho's face had shut down, expressionless as he bit back the bile that rose in his throat at the thought of submitting himself to Nebris in that way. His body language screamed his repulsion at the idea, and he struggled to keep himself calm as he waited for a response. Waited to see if Nebris would take the opportunity he'd just been handed to change his status to that of a bedroom slave. A toy for him to fuck as he pleased and then throw away.

Nebris straightened up in his chair at that, shocked. Certainly, it was no secret that he harbored feelings for the young man, and his tastes were well-known, but. Did Etho really think him so depraved that he would take him to his bed out of some need for revenge, when Etho himself was clearly unwilling? At this rate, the younger man would start to throw himself at him until he felt he was forgiven. Nebris felt his skin crawl at the realization that Etho was so terrified of his wrath that he would effectively whore himself out to him.

Spotting the pink flush of embarrassment on Etho's face before it faded, schooled into a neutral expression, Nebris could see how much it was hurting Etho to make that offer, and how terrified he was that Nebris might accept. Had he still been in the throes of anger, Nebris would have felt satisfied, pleased even, to see the younger man humiliated and submitting to him. Now that his temper had cooled, Nebris could not help but notice how wrong it felt. Had Nebris really cut him so deeply that Etho would throw away his pride?

Nebris was no fool. As it stood now, any carnal relationship between the two would only end in tears. Etho, driven by his need to please Nebris, would self-destruct. He would break under the strain of warring with his mind in order to sacrifice his body. That single-minded determination would be his undoing, and the act itself would permanently define their differences in station. Their relationship would be irrevocably tainted if he allowed that to happen. Nebris needed to put a stop to this. Now.

"That's enough." Nebris cleared his throat, watching the distraught younger man with a hint of worry lining his features. Tear-filled eyes looked up at him then, and this time, Nebris did flinch.

Etho's face was bruised and dried blood still covered his face from when he had bit his lip to keep from crying out. His eyes were unfocused, and the left eye had reddened completely, dyed from the blood that had trickled into it from the gash on his forehead. His face was nearly white from fear, and he looked like he would fall over at any second as violent tremors racked his body. The dark circles under his eyes confirmed his exhaustion, and Nebris thought back to when he had watched Etho jerk awake at his less than quiet entry into the throne room. Had the man slept at all? Looking away from Etho's ashen face, Nebris turned his attention back to the flower crown in the man's outstretched arms, grimacing as he saw the state of Etho's hands.

Some of the thin, delicate fingers were clearly broken, swollen and jutting out at strange angles as Etho cradled the flower crown as though it would fall apart in his grasp. The imprint of Nebris' boot was still visible on the back of Etho's right hand, and Nebris felt his stomach lurch as he realized that he'd probably broken Etho's fingers when he stepped on them, intending to crush the flowers beneath his boot. He hadn't noticed in his rage, but thinking back, he had heard a crunching sound mixed in with Etho's whimpers before he left the hall.

He hadn't paid the sound any mind, and as a result, Etho had no choice but to endure the pain of broken fingers for the entire night and most of the morning. The servants had been forbidden from entering after their argument, so the young man had no way of getting ice to numb his hand or reduce the swelling. Angry, inflamed skin covered the badly swollen fingers, and Nebris ran his fingers through his hair as he realized that at least some of Etho's tears were likely from the pain of his broken hand.

He remembered watching his friend craft flower crowns on many occasions, fingers moving rapidly and carefully to entwine the flower stems together. His mind replaced the image, imagining an Etho with broken fingers and blurred vision attempting the same task. Guilt surged through him as he saw it in his mind's eye. Etho would have tried his best to weave the flower crown out of the crushed flowers, broken fingers making the task that much more painful and difficult. The deft, quick movements would be replaced with slow, pain-staking ones as his hands shook. His fingers, swollen and misshapen, slipped clumsily and dropped the flowers to the floor, forcing the younger man to retrieve them and start over. This happened over and over again, and Etho bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he focused on his task, determined to finish weaving the crushed pieces together.

It hurt. Pain resonated in his chest as he tried to push away those thoughts, unable to bear seeing the hardworking Etho in such pain, even if it was only in his mind. Reaching forward, he gently plucked the lopsided flower crown from Etho's hands, pausing as he watched the younger man suck in a breath, stopping his tears as they subsided to a quiet sniffling. His expression was one that didn't dare to hope, and Nebris could read the thoughts on his face like a book. Etho was waiting for him to throw it to the ground and crush it, and what little of his heart remained with it. Waiting for that last, crushing rejection as his failure was thrown back in his face.

And that was what hurt the most. Nebris could see Etho already resigning himself to failure, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he anticipated the cruelty he had come to expect of Nebris. His hopes dashed, shattered, like the man himself. Broken. As Etho averted his eyes to the floor, shuffling away as far as he could, Nebris swallowed, placing the flower crown gently atop his head. But Etho wasn't paying attention anymore.

His courage had run out, and the emotionally-exhausted boy was as far away from him as the chain would allow, hardly daring to breathe as he waited for Nebris to leave. If not for the chain locking him to the throne, Nebris had no doubt that he would have run out of the room by now. Instead, Etho's gaze was still fixed on the floor, watching, waiting for the flower crown to be flung in front of him and crushed mercilessly under Nebris' boot.

Several moments passed in silence, and when the crown did not appear to be on the ground, Etho dared to look up, confused. At the sight of Nebris wearing the crushed flower crown atop his head, he let out a disbelieving breath, his expression cautiously hopeful as the dark-haired man slowly knelt beside him, a tender expression on his face. He flinched, but held himself steady as Nebris reached for him, and squeaked as he was pulled into a tight hug. Etho blinked as he felt something wet land on his shoulder as Nebris clung to him tightly, hesitantly reaching out to wrap his arms around the other man.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Etho. I don't know what came over me."  
Etho let out a breathy sigh, hiccuping in relief as Nebris seemed to revert back to the kind man he knew. "A-am I forgiven, then?"  
Nebris squeezed tighter, careful not to hurt Etho any more than he already had as he let out a shaky breath of his own. "Yes."

Nebris didn't know how to ask Etho if he'd forgive him, as well. Not when he knew in his heart the answer should be "No." So he just sat there, holding Etho in his arms. Maybe their relationship wasn't perfect. Maybe he wasn't perfect.

But he was trying. And maybe, for now... that was enough.


End file.
